musicraves

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Dancing About Architecture
-Musical Raves & Other contortions

Playing music for twenty years has taught me at least three things about life.

1. Always pass the dutchie on the left hand side.

2. When in doubt improvise.

3. Music, like sex, is better done than said.

Elvis Costello once wryly noted that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. But as manic music critic Lester Bangs proved with his "psychotic reactions and carburetor dung" musings, writing about music can be just about as much fun as playing or listening to it. So it's with the intent of having fun that I've compiled a list of albums that have caused me to exclaim, in the words of the immortal Ramones, "Gabba, Gabba, Hey!"...albums that have rocked my world. You call yourself a music lover, well, how does your list compare? The first person to e-mail me their own list and tell me what the heck a 'dutchie' is will win...something....

Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968). An album that evokes the joy of a sunny day by the water- intense, breezy, and alive with possibilities. Van channels the spirits of Solomon Burke and Chester Burnett transforming himself into a Celtic Sufi in the throes of a dervish. The jazz-inflected percussion of "The Way Young Lovers Do", the loose, acoustic bass and the fluttering, hummingbird strum of the guitar on "Sweet Thing" create a perfect fusion of pop, jazz, folk and soul. Nothing before or since has sounded quite like it. There's something intrinsically Irish about the album and it cast a spell over me. A friend and I followed the sound to Ireland, busking our way from Belfast to Cork to Dublin to Galway and got billed as "The Men Who Drank Canada Dry"- we soon became "The Men Who Ireland Drank Dry".

Hard Rain- Bob Dylan (1976). Sure, I know a lot of aficionados will differ, citing the obvious "Blonde on Blonde", "Blood on the Tracks", or the more recent "Time Out of Mind". But this underrated live album from the now legendary 75/76 Rolling Thunder tours captures all the exuberance and mercurial wildness that has come to be known as "Dylanesque". Everyone from Allen Ginsberg and Joan Baez to T-Bone Burnett and Bowie guitarist, Mick Ronson were on board making this a true gathering of the tribes. When I first heard this album I couldn't place the singer- Bob's voice is charged with a rare vitality throughout. The electric re-workings of "Lay Lady Lay", "One Too Many Mornings" and especially "Shelter from the Storm" all combine to make this a brilliant and euphoric live album. The face make-up is a neat addition, too.

The "Banana Album"- The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). This is as important a sonic document as "Sgt. Pepper" or "Pet Sounds". Lou Reed extends Dylan's challenge of writing poetry for the jukebox and embraces the elements Bob only alluded to- heroin, sex, and violence. On opuses "Heroin" and "All Tomorrow's Parties" the Velvets, propelled by John Cale's screeching electric viola, mix-up a mainlining sound that bands like Sonic Youth still strive to emulate today. Goth-ice queen Nico lends an eerie chill to the ballads "I'll Be Your Mirror" and "Femme Fatal" evoking the disturbing impulses lurking just beneath our psychic landscapes. Truly a rare and unsettling beauty.

Survival - Bob Marley and the Wailers (1979). The culmination and most consistent articulation of Natty Dread's career. Marley fuses the smooth soul of Curtis Mayfield to Haile Selassie's vision of racial harmony and delivers a sonic proclamation about liberation and independence. Tracks like "Africa Unite", "One Drop" and "Zimbabwe" were said to inspire the birth of a nation (Zimbabwe). Holding it all together as always, is bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett's ganja-rasta-riddim making this one of the greatest reggae albums ever produced.

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea- PJ Harvey (2000). Easily one of the best releases in recent years. Finally PJ brings her raw, wandering muse into focus with some help from Bad Seeds' Mick Harvey and alt-uberman, Thom Yorke from Radiohead. On tracks like "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore"and "This is Love" she maintains a pop sensibility without losing the feral, Patti Smith vibe, while "Horses in My Dreams" lulls like a calming tide. Watching her swagger across the Commodore stage in Vancouver was enough to bend me into fawning submission....

Tijuana Moods- Charles Mingus (1962). If I were Orpheus the god of music, and I could assemble a quartet for paradise then Mingus would lead the band. This album is as loose and frenetic as the song titles imply: "Dizzy Moods", "Ysabel's Table Dance", and "Los Mariachis". Recorded in 1957 but not released until 1962, Mingus himself considered it one of his finest works. The 'conversations' or improvs between the players teeter on the edge of bliss and anguish, true to the freedom and despair of a "very blue period" Mingus said he was experiencing during the album's creation. Essential American music.

Revolver- The Beatles (1966). "Tomorrow Never Knows" is enough to make this a landmark, but throw in "Eleanor Rigby", "For No One", "Taxman" and this is a certifiable masterpiece from beginning to end. Includes everything from sitars, French horns, lounge jazz, acid, yellow submarines and enough brilliance to fill every hole in the Albert Hall.

Never Mind the Bollocks- The Sex Pistols (1977). To this day it continues to rival any release for sheer froth and intensity. With politics ("Holidays in the Sun"), revolution ("God Save the Queen"), and rock n' roll ("Pretty Vacant") this album changed the thinking of three chord r & r. After hearing it for the first time I had to peel my face off the ceiling before its menace settled into my being and left me ruined forever.

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts- David Byrne and Brian Eno (1981). The album that helped turn a generation on to the wonders of sampling. "The Jezebel Spirit" samples a recording from an actual exorcism while "Regiment" recalls Qawwal singer Nusrat Ali Khan. Chuck D cites the album as a major influence on Public Enemy's sound and echoes appear on recent releases like 1 Giant Leap and Nitin Sawhney's Prophecy. An album that still sounds like a cutting edge collection today, it remains an enduring fusion of world music and techno twenty years before it became trendy.

I Never Loved a Man (The Way that I Loved You)- Aretha Franklin (1967). Of course, any list involving music must include the Queen of Soul! "Respect", "Do Right Woman", and Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" put this album onto another level-that of a soul stirring avatar.

It's time to pass the dutchie. The only certain thing about any of the above is that it'll all change tomorrow....I forgot the Stones, Radiohead, Mozart, Uncle Tupelo, Joni Mitchell, Outcast, Elvis, Black Flag, Miles Davis....

David & Yewco SOOPER LOVERS.net All rights reseved.

	Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968). An album that evokes the joy of a sunny day by the water- intense, breezy, and alive with possibilities. Van channels the spirits of Solomon Burke and Chester Burnett transforming himself into a Celtic Sufi in the throes of a dervish. The jazz-inflected percussion of "The Way Young Lovers Do", the loose, acoustic bass and the fluttering, hummingbird strum of the guitar on "Sweet Thing" create a perfect fusion of pop, jazz, folk and soul. Nothing before or since has sounded quite like it. There's something intrinsically Irish about the album and it cast a spell over me. A friend and I followed the sound to Ireland, busking our way from Belfast to Cork to Dublin to Galway and got billed as "The Men Who Drank Canada Dry"- we soon became "The Men Who Ireland Drank Dry".
Hard Rain- Bob Dylan (1976). Sure, I know a lot of aficionados will differ, citing the obvious "Blonde on Blonde", "Blood on the Tracks", or the more recent "Time Out of Mind". But this underrated live album from the now legendary 75/76 Rolling Thunder tours captures all the exuberance and mercurial wildness that has come to be known as "Dylanesque". Everyone from Allen Ginsberg and Joan Baez to T-Bone Burnett and Bowie guitarist, Mick Ronson were on board making this a true gathering of the tribes. When I first heard this album I couldn't place the singer- Bob's voice is charged with a rare vitality throughout. The electric re-workings of "Lay Lady Lay", "One Too Many Mornings" and especially "Shelter from the Storm" all combine to make this a brilliant and euphoric live album. The face make-up is a neat addition, too.
	The "Banana Album"- The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). This is as important a sonic document as "Sgt. Pepper" or "Pet Sounds". Lou Reed extends Dylan's challenge of writing poetry for the jukebox and embraces the elements Bob only alluded to- heroin, sex, and violence. On opuses "Heroin" and "All Tomorrow's Parties" the Velvets, propelled by John Cale's screeching electric viola, mix-up a mainlining sound that bands like Sonic Youth still strive to emulate today. Goth-ice queen Nico lends an eerie chill to the ballads "I'll Be Your Mirror" and "Femme Fatal" evoking the disturbing impulses lurking just beneath our psychic landscapes. Truly a rare and unsettling beauty.
Survival - Bob Marley and the Wailers (1979). The culmination and most consistent articulation of Natty Dread's career. Marley fuses the smooth soul of Curtis Mayfield to Haile Selassie's vision of racial harmony and delivers a sonic proclamation about liberation and independence. Tracks like "Africa Unite", "One Drop" and "Zimbabwe" were said to inspire the birth of a nation (Zimbabwe). Holding it all together as always, is bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett's ganja-rasta-riddim making this one of the greatest reggae albums ever produced.
	Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea- PJ Harvey (2000). Easily one of the best releases in recent years. Finally PJ brings her raw, wandering muse into focus with some help from Bad Seeds' Mick Harvey and alt-uberman, Thom Yorke from Radiohead. On tracks like "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore"and "This is Love" she maintains a pop sensibility without losing the feral, Patti Smith vibe, while "Horses in My Dreams" lulls like a calming tide. Watching her swagger across the Commodore stage in Vancouver was enough to bend me into fawning submission....
Tijuana Moods- Charles Mingus (1962). If I were Orpheus the god of music, and I could assemble a quartet for paradise then Mingus would lead the band. This album is as loose and frenetic as the song titles imply: "Dizzy Moods", "Ysabel's Table Dance", and "Los Mariachis". Recorded in 1957 but not released until 1962, Mingus himself considered it one of his finest works. The 'conversations' or improvs between the players teeter on the edge of bliss and anguish, true to the freedom and despair of a "very blue period" Mingus said he was experiencing during the album's creation. Essential American music.
	Revolver- The Beatles (1966). "Tomorrow Never Knows" is enough to make this a landmark, but throw in "Eleanor Rigby", "For No One", "Taxman" and this is a certifiable masterpiece from beginning to end. Includes everything from sitars, French horns, lounge jazz, acid, yellow submarines and enough brilliance to fill every hole in the Albert Hall.
Never Mind the Bollocks- The Sex Pistols (1977). To this day it continues to rival any release for sheer froth and intensity. With politics ("Holidays in the Sun"), revolution ("God Save the Queen"), and rock n' roll ("Pretty Vacant") this album changed the thinking of three chord r & r. After hearing it for the first time I had to peel my face off the ceiling before its menace settled into my being and left me ruined forever.
	My Life in the Bush of Ghosts- David Byrne and Brian Eno (1981). The album that helped turn a generation on to the wonders of sampling. "The Jezebel Spirit" samples a recording from an actual exorcism while "Regiment" recalls Qawwal singer Nusrat Ali Khan. Chuck D cites the album as a major influence on Public Enemy's sound and echoes appear on recent releases like 1 Giant Leap and Nitin Sawhney's Prophecy. An album that still sounds like a cutting edge collection today, it remains an enduring fusion of world music and techno twenty years before it became trendy.
I Never Loved a Man (The Way that I Loved You)- Aretha Franklin (1967). Of course, any list involving music must include the Queen of Soul! "Respect", "Do Right Woman", and Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" put this album onto another level-that of a soul stirring avatar.